Practices and knowledge levels of prehospital doctors in traumatic brain injury management in Hubei, China

This thesis is a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of pre-hospital doctors' knowledge and practice of managing traumatic brain injury in two major cities of Hubei province, China. This study provides evidence for future research on improving the quality of pre-hospital management in China.

An early feeding practices intervention for obesity prevention

Objective - Report long term outcomes of the NOURISH randomized controlled trial (RCT) that evaluated a universal intervention commencing in infancy to provide anticipatory guidance to first-time mothers on ‘protective’ complementary feeding practices which were hypothesized to reduce childhood obesity risk. Subjects and Methods - The NOURISH RCT enrolled 698 mothers (mean age 30.1 years, SD=5.3) with healthy term infants (51% female). Mothers were randomly allocated to usual care or to attend two 6-session, 12-week group education modules. Outcomes were assessed five times: baseline (infants 4.3 months); 6 months after module 1 (infants 14 months); 6 months after module 2 (infants 2 years) and at 3.5 and 5 years of age. Maternal feeding practices were self-reported using validated questionnaires. BMI Z-score was calculated from measured child height and weight. Linear Mixed Models evaluated intervention (group) effect across time. Results - Retention at 5 years of age was 61%. Across ages 2-5 years, intervention mothers reported less frequent use of non-responsive feeding practices on 6/9 scales. At 5 years they also reported more appropriate responses to food refusal on 7/12 items (Ps ≤.05). No statistically significant group effect was noted for anthropometric outcomes (BMI Z-score: P=.06), or the prevalence of overweight/obesity (control 13.3% vs. intervention 11.4%, P=.66). Conclusions - Anticipatory guidance on complementary feeding resulted in first-time mothers reporting increased use of protective feeding practices. These intervention effects were sustained up to five years of age and were paralleled by a non-significant trend for lower child BMI Z-scores at all post-intervention assessment points.

Developing students’ technological literacy through robotics activities

One way to consider Technology as other than an add-on might be to consider the opportunities to learn literacies opened by participation in technology. In this commentary Vinesh Chandra considers this in light of robotics lessons with primary school students as part of his work in the UR Learning project.

Analysis of moderation practices in a large STEM-focused faculty

Moderation of assessment constitutes a crucial element of the learning and teaching process at the university. Yet, despite its importance, many academics have confusing beliefs and attitudes towards moderation practices, processes and procedures. This paper reports on a qualitative study conducted in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-focused faculty at a large Australian higher education institution. The findings of the study revealed a strong need for further investigation on the ways moderation is understood and enacted by academics within a STEM-specific context and informed redevelopment of the faculty’s internal moderation policy.

The sleeping elephant in the room: Practices and policies regarding sleep-rest time in ECEC

The National Quality Framework (NQF) for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Australia identifies the need for services to make provision for each child’s sleep, rest and relaxation within a national early year’s policy framework that also requires that opportunities for learning and physical health are optimised, and that the agency of each child and their family is respected. Against this background, the scheduling of a standard sleep-time in ECEC centres remains a common practice, even in rooms catering for older children for whom daytime sleep may no longer be necessary. This article draws upon existing scholarship to explore the issues and tensions associated with sleep-rest, in the context of Australian curriculum and quality standards documents. We review accounts from educators, parents and children and contemporary views regarding high quality practice in ECEC, with an aim of supporting critical reflection on practice and continuous quality improvement in ECEC.

Fixing the alignment: An exploration of budgeting practices in the home

Budgeting is an important means of controlling ones finances and reducing debt. This paper outlines our work towards designing more user centred technology for individual and household budgeting. Based on an ethnographically informed study with 15 participants, we highlight a misalignment between people's actual budgeting practices and those supported by off-the-shelf budgeting aids. In addressing this misalignment we outline three tenets that may be incorporated into future work in this area. These include (1) catering for the different phases of engagement with technology; (2) catering for the practices of hiding and limiting access to money, and; (3) integrating materiality into technical solutions.

Interrogating policy contradictions in literacy reforms about persuasive texts

Objectives Our overarching objective is to demonstrate the political contradictions about about how persuasive texts should be taught in the middle years of schooling, analysing two contradictory Australian wide educational reforms. We consider the complexities of power and access to literacy for students in relation to these reforms about the privileged genre of persuasion. Our work is framed by our appreciation of literacy as a social justice issue, and the notion of students’ pedagogic rights (Bernstein, 2000). Specifically, we introduce and analyse the knowledge and skills about persuasive text sanctioned by the Australian high-stakes test, the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), for students in the middle years of schooling (ACARA, 2013). We compare this to the contemporary emphasis on multimodal persuasive texts sanctioned by the recently released Australian Curriculum English (ACARA, 2014). We conclude our analysis by identifying biases in the structure of particular knowledges and the inherent threats to democracy.

Enablers of sense-making and responding and their impact on the effectiveness of management accounting practices

Management accounting practices are expected to adapt and evolve with changing information requirements. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that enable management accounting adaptability and effectiveness. This study identifies three factors that drive management accounting adaptability through their support of sense-making and responding. Specifically, it is examined how top management team knowledge, team-based structures, and information system flexibility affect management accounting adaptability. The hypotheses are tested using data collected from an online survey of Australian and New Zealand companies. The results support the proposed relationships. Also a positive association between management accounting adaptability and management accounting effectiveness was found. This empirical study contributes to the literature on management accounting change by determining a number of drivers that improve upon the agility of organizational management accounting practices.

Ants, apples and the ABCs: The use of commercial phonics programmes in prior-to-school children's services

Commercial phonics programmes (e.g. Jolly Phonics and Letterland) are becoming widely used in the early years of school. These programmes claim to use a systematic explicit approach, considered as the preferred method of phonics instruction for teaching alphabetic code-breaking skills in Australia and the UK in the first years of school (Department of Education, Science and Training, 2005; Rose, 2006). However, little is known about the extent to which they are being used in prior-to-school settings, and the reasons behind decisions to use them. This study surveyed 283 early childhood staff in Sydney, Australia and found that commercial phonics programmes were being used in 36% of the early childhood settings surveyed. Staff with early childhood univer- sity qualifications and staff working in not-for-profit service types were less likely to use a commercial phonics programme than staff without university qualifications and staff working in for-profit services. Staff with less than 10 years’ experience were also more likely to use a commercial phonics programme. The rationale behind decisions deter- mining whether or not staff used the programmes ranged from pragmatic reasons, such as parent pressure or higher management decisions, to pedagogical reasons, such as teacher beliefs about how children learn to read and write. The practices staff engage in to teach phonics are explored.

Pre-packaging preschool literacy: What drives early childhood teachers to use commercially produced phonics programs in prior to school settings

Language-rich environments are key to overall quality in early childhood settings, including frequent child–staff interactions around picture books and dramatic play. In a language-rich environment, explicit teaching of literacy concepts, such as phonics, is embedded in authentic and meaningful situations where alphabet letters and sounds are taught in a context meaningful to the child. Recent research, however, suggests that the use of commercial pre-packaged phonics programs (such as Letterland and Jolly Phonics) is widespread in prior to school settings in Sydney, Australia. Little is known about why early childhood teachers choose to use such programs with children aged five and under. In the present study, thematic analysis of data from interviews with five early childhood teachers using commercial phonics programs found that their reasons were pragmatic rather than pedagogical. Motivations included the idea that the programs reduced their workload, provided tangible evidence to parents of their child’s ‘school readiness’, and served as a marketing tool to attract parents. Further analysis found that the teachers were unable to articulate what phonics and phonological awareness are and how they are learnt in early childhood.

Strenthening information literacy through collaboration: Implications for AIM

Because of its size, its excellent VET history, and its emerging higher education provision, AIM is in a special position to be an exemplar of good practice in the VET-HE transition. Many dual sector providers, by virtue of their size, tend to focus on higher education, on the assumption that VET ‘competence’ implies that their VET entrants to HE are confident and capable in information literacy skills. While this is only one of the many challenges that such students face in their undergraduate programs, it is the most critical for most of them in their quest for academic success. All students (school leavers, gap-year participants, articulating, mature age) entering HE will face specific challenges. For articulating students, the nature of credit transfer arrangements will often mean they commence studies in units that are not designated first year units. In this case, the embedded support structures are not as prominent. The existing literature is not consistent in reports on the rates of completion, retention and attrition of articulating students. There is some evidence that VET-qualified students have higher retention rates than school leavers [1], but limited information literacy skills can lead to attrition [2].

What’s the point of moderation? A discussion of the purposes achieved through contemporary moderation practices

An increasingly regulated higher education sector is renewing its attention to those activities referred to as ‘moderation’ in its efforts to ensure that judgements of student achievement are based on appropriate standards. Moderation practices conducted throughout the assessment process can result in purposes identified as equity, justification, accountability and community building. This paper draws on the limited studies of moderation and wider relevant research on judgement, standards and professional learning to test commonly used moderation practices against these identified purposes. The paper concludes with recommendations for maximising the potential of moderation practices to establish and maintain achievement standards.

Exploring Environmental Stewardship Through Data-Driven Practices

What potential do artists working with environmental data in public space have for producing new forms of engagement with local environmental conditions? Operating on the edge of heavy bureaucracy, these types of data-driven artistic experiments probe the politics of environmental metrics and explore methods of engaging audiences with issues of environmental health. This discussion considers a small collection of cases studies representative of this growing field of practice. These are works by Natalie Jeremijenko and The Living, Tega Brain and Keith Deverell. The case studies considered are examples of strategic design, works that soften, reveal and potentially shift existing regulations and bureaucratic norms. In doing so they open up new possibilities and questions as to what the smart city is and how it might be realised.

Cold water immersion: Practices, trends and avenues of effect

Cold water immersion and ice baths are popular methods of recovery used by athletes. From the simple wheelie bin with water and ice, to the inflatable baths with complex water cooling units to recovery sessions in the ocean, the practice of cold water immersion is wide and varied. Research into cold water immersion was conducted as early as 1963 when Clarke1 examined the influence of cold water on performance recovery after a sustained handgrip exercise. Research has been conducted to understand how cold water immersion might affect the body’s physiological systems and how factors such as water temperature and the duration of immersion might enhance recovery after training and/or competition. Despite this research activity, how are we to know if research is being put into practice? In more serious situations, where guidelines and policies need to be standardised for the safe use of a product, one would expect that there is a straight forward follow-on from research into practice. Although cold water immersion may not need the rigor of testing compared to drug treatments, for example, the decision on whether to use cold water immersion in specific situations (e.g. after training or competition) may rest with one or two of the staff associated with the athlete/team. Therefore, it would be expected that these staff are well-informed on the current literature regarding cold water immersion.

The Library beyond (just) the book: Collaboration and co-working spaces for new technology and new technological practices

Libraries have often been first adopters of many new technological innovations, such as, punch cards, computers, barcodes, and e-book readers. It is thus not surprising that many libraries have embraced the advent of the internet as an opportunity to move away from just being repositories of books, towards becoming ideas stores and local network hubs for entrepreneurial thinking and new creative practices. This presentation will look at the case of “The Edge” – an initiative of the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, to establish a digital culture centre and learning environment deliberately designed for the co-creation and co-construction of knowledge. This initiative illustrates the potential role of libraries as testing grounds for new technologies and technological practices, which is particularly relevant in the context of the NBN rollout across Australia. It also provides an example of new engagement strategies for innovative co-working spaces that are a vital element in a trend that sees professionals, creatives and designers leave their traditional places of work and embrace the city as their office.